


Under Desert Stars

by babybel



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (1963)
Genre: Found Family, Gen, Kinda Fluffy, i don't think that's their whole relationship but i do think he's sometimes a dad figure for her :'), some zoe character study stuff... some jamie character study stuff..., the thing is i love them so much, this is called "[zoe voice] you are my dad" in my google docs smh
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-11
Updated: 2020-11-11
Packaged: 2021-03-10 00:34:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,246
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27515398
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/babybel/pseuds/babybel
Summary: Stranded on an alien world waiting for the Doctor to come back, Jamie and Zoe butt heads yet again, this time over a young alien child Jamie insists on looking after.
Relationships: Zoe Heriot & Jamie McCrimmon
Comments: 2
Kudos: 13





	Under Desert Stars

**Author's Note:**

> this one.. yeah.. this one's near n dear to me

The frustrating thing about Jamie - well,  _ one _ of the frustrating things - was that once he got an idea set in his head, no amount of logic could sway him, even if what he was so set on made absolutely no sense. 

So, Zoe found herself not just with Jamie in their allotted tent, but also with this strange, alien child. 

Jamie’d complained and complained that the kid’s parents were missing, and probably lost to the attack on the city, and that she had no one, and then, when Zoe told him over and over that if they got found with one of the planet’s native people it could land them in terrible trouble, he’d said that his say was final anyway, and not heard another word. 

Now, she sat on the opposite side of the tent, arms crossed, trying not to get too angry with him. She understood where he was coming from, of course, but he was putting them both in danger taking the girl in. 

Plus, what an odd creature. Zoe considered herself quite open-minded and forward thinking, but she’d never seen anything like this girl before. A mix between a spider and a human child; a girl with six arms and dark, shiny eyes. 

Jamie didn’t seem to mind, though. He was sat down with her, watching attentively as she drew patterns in the sand with her far too many hands. He pointed to something. “And that’s-”

“The falling star,” the girl answered. She had a strange voice, too. Like she couldn’t do anything but whisper. 

Well, if she was mapping out the falling star - the first landing party from the rocket- at least they might get something useful out of her.

Zoe’s mind was working over too many things to fall asleep, but she rather wished she could. What she really needed was the Doctor back. She didn’t know how long it would take him to disable the weapons and communications systems in the rocket orbiting the planet, but it had already been a few days. She wasn’t quite comfortable saying she missed him - the sentiments from her childhood in the elite program cringed at admitting anything like that - but it was something close. 

“Not every falling star is bad, caileag,” Jamie was saying. “My Doctor was a falling star, you know.” 

“Cara said he was going to save us,” she whispered. 

“He  _ is _ going to save us,” Zoe snapped sharply from her corner. “Weapons systems on traverser rockets are just so complex it’s taking time.” It was what she’d been telling herself all day, and all yesterday as well. 

Jamie gave her a glare. “I’ll have you keep your voice down, if you don’t mind.” 

Zoe almost physically turned her nose up, and considered pretending to fall asleep. 

“But she’s right,” Jamie went on softly, attention back on the girl. “He always saves us. You’ll see. Here.” He stood up and easily lifted the girl up with him, holding her on his hip. 

Zoe’d always been bad at judging ages, but she must’ve been about five years old, or however old five years was in spider. She wished she’d thought to bring more of a coat; the desert got terribly cold at night. She did her best with the small latex jacket she had, and watched Jamie bring the girl outside the tent. She heard his voice from outside vaguely, but not clear enough to make out words. 

She knew she should tell him he had to let the girl go, and try to get it through his thick skull that if any of the soldiers from the rocket found her with them, all three of them would be killed. It was one thing to look after a girl who’d lost her parents, but it was another thing entirely to do so when she and her whole species were wanted fugitives, and the only reason she and Jamie were safe was that the soldiers had provided them a tent. She knew the soldiers were in the wrong, and she wasn’t about to side with them out of gratitude, but she also wasn’t quick to provoke them any more than necessary. Especially without the Doctor here.

It was stupid of her to even let them go outside. The chances of being picked out were slim - it was such a large encampment, and the rocket people had bigger fish to fry, currently - but it was still a risk. She contented herself with the fact that she could still hear Jamie talking outside, and tried to let it settle her. 

When Jamie came back in, he asked, “We both saw how dark the sky was, eh? What does that mean?”

“The star’s gone behind Balva,” the girl answered. 

“Well- aye, I suppose.” Jamie sat, leaning back against the tent’s mooring pole. He let the girl relocate, waiting until she was settled pressed to his chest before wrapping an arm around her. “It also means it’s past your time to get to sleep.”

Zoe listened to the girl’s protestations, and how Jamie navigated them with surprising grace. She realized, suddenly, that this was the closest thing she’d ever seen to parenting. She couldn’t even imagine being coaxed to bed like this, and the whole thing was so utterly foreign - equally so while thinking of herself as the parent or the child, really - that it was all she could do to keep from studying it. 

She contented herself to watch out of the corner of an eye as Jamie hummed something until the spider girl was definitively asleep, and she was struck with the fact that this wasn’t a one-of-a-kind occurrence. Jamie always gravitated towards looking after kids that needed help, wherever they went. She realized that she really didn’t know much about him, despite living with him for coming on three months. 

Quietly, she asked, “Has she gone to sleep?” She knew the answer, of course, but it was as good a lead in as any, and she felt she had to make up for how abrasive she’d been all day. 

“Aye, she has,” Jamie whispered back. “When do you-”

“Jamie, you didn’t have children, did you?” she blurted out. The fact of the matter was, she knew it wasn’t uncommon for men in his time to have children in their early twenties, and he seemed so drawn to parenting, and so good at it. “Back where you came from, I mean.”

“What?” Jamie sounded taken aback. 

Zoe’d never been good at reading expressions, but he certainly looked shocked. She had half a mind to apologize on the spot, and found herself just staring back at him.

“Lord, Zoe, no,” he answered. “I was never married, I’m- do you honestly think I-” He stopped, cutting himself off. 

She was afraid for a moment that she’d gotten it wrong, so she asked, “How old are you?”

Jamie raised an eyebrow at her, but answered, at length and in a strange tone, “I’m not sure. See- I was twenty-two when I left, but it’s so hard to tell time, travelling like we do with the Doctor. It feels like a long time, but-” He fell silent. “It’s odd to think, eh?”

It certainly was odd to think. And completely unrelatable to Zoe; she kept a count going in the back of her head, and had ever since she’d stowed away on the TARDIS. If they were to land back on the Wheel, she’d know exactly what month and day it was, and even the day of the week. It was so easy, just the tiniest, constant thing. She couldn’t imagine what Jamie must feel like, not knowing the day nor the month, nor even how many years had passed since he left his time. 

“What’s with you, then?” Jamie asked, breaking her out of her thoughts. 

“Oh, nothing. You’re just good with that- girl. I was wondering, that’s all,” Zoe defended. 

“She’s not that girl, her name’s Jahra,” corrected Jamie. Then he softened, looking over at her hopefully. “Am I?”

“I’d say,” Zoe replied, and tried to make it sound nonchalant. “I wouldn’t really know, though.”

Jamie looked like he wanted to say something, but, again, Zoe wasn’t really much at reading faces. He ended up not saying anything, so perhaps she was wrong. She found herself without anything to say either, worried suddenly that she’d let on slightly too much. All that came to mind were excuses, and she felt like that would only dig her deeper in. 

They sat in silence for a while, and Jamie looked back down to the girl, rubbing a hand up and down her back. Eventually, he said, “The Doctor’ll be fine, you know.” 

“Yes, I do know.” She blinked, and tried not to get angry with him for somehow picking out exactly what she’d been worried over all day. 

“Just- he’s always fine. And he always comes back.”

“I know,” she repeated. 

Jamie shrugged as much as he could with the girl sleeping on him, and said, “I’ve just been with him a good deal longer than you, and you- seemed worried, that’s all.” 

“I’m not.” 

“Right. Must have got it wrong.” Jamie gave her a nod. “You should get some sleep, though. If you can.”

“I thought I was keeping watch in case the men from the rocket turn up,” Zoe reminded him. “It still could happen, you know. Just because it hasn’t happened yet doesn’t mean-”

“I’ve got watch,” he told her, his tone a very Jamie mix of how it was when he stated the most practical option available and how it was when he was falling prey to that very obvious duty of care he had to both her and the Doctor. 

“Are you sure?” she offered, because she already felt bad enough about making him deal with the mood she’d been in all day. 

“Aye, you go on.” He shifted, keeping the girl secure against his chest with an arm as he sat up a little straighter. 

“Well,” replied Zoe, as primly as she could manage, “your loss. Goodnight, Jamie.” 

“Night.” 

She went through the process of arranging her jacket in the most efficient facsimile of a pillow she could get, wanting very much not to wake up with sand all through her hair. It was only when she was all settled and about to let herself drop off when it hit her that Jamie’d been using his parenting routine on her too. 

She very nearly sat back up and called him out on it, but stopped herself. How many other times had he done this with it going over her radar? Was she really so clueless when it came to other people that she needed the direct correlation of how he was with the spider girl to see it? And why wasn’t it bothering her?

Because it really wasn’t, when it came down to it. It was patronizing, to a degree, but she was finding that she didn’t mind. As much as she’d been conditioned to view adults as coworkers and peers her whole life, she knew that Jamie didn’t have that same conditioning, and probably looked at her and saw not much more than a child. And that was fine. It was fine. 

She didn’t know quite what to do when faced with parental affection, that was the only thing. And Jamie was a far cry from any of the father figures she pictured when she was growing up in the elite program. He didn’t know much of anything and he was far too reckless, but, she’d realized, a lot of real life hadn’t lined up with how she’d pictured it when she was younger. It was alright that it didn’t. 

And Jamie was a natural at this parenting thing, not that she needed parenting. She was far too old. But was still nice to know it was there, that it was an option, and that he cared for her enough to even consider her that way. 

She sat up, taking her jacket off the sand and bringing it over with her to where Jamie sat with the girl. “I’m cold,” she whispered, before Jamie could ask her anything. She put her jacket on and sat next to him. 

He was one of those people who ran warm and really radiated heat, so she figured it was a fair excuse. After a vicious fight with herself over whether or not it would be okay, she used reason and put together that when it came to physical contact, Jamie’d be the last person to care. She rested her head on his shoulder and curled against his side. 

“It’s a wee bit chilly,” he agreed. “Wait-”

Zoe did wait, feeling him maneuver the sleeping girl so he could get an arm free. 

After a moment, he settled that arm around Zoe’s shoulders. “Here.”

Zoe let out a breath, and found herself struggling to come up with the right words for this. She settled on, “I’m sorry I fought you about keeping the girl with us.”

“It’s-”

“I’m glad you saved her,” she finished, talking over him a bit but intent on getting it out. She knew it was the closest she’d ever get to thanking him for everything he’d done for her, the closest she’d ever get to admitting how much she owed him and the Doctor. 

After a moment, his arm tightened around her just a bit, pulling her closer. “Aye, me too.”

**Author's Note:**

> find me on tumblr @lesbiandonnanoble !!


End file.
